


Wind has Failed

by RubyCrystalAPasta



Series: The Runaway System [2]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Dissociative Identity Disorder, Gen, Neil has DID- Dissociative Identity Disorder, Neil is in a system, POV Neil Josten
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:39:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29370945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubyCrystalAPasta/pseuds/RubyCrystalAPasta
Summary: Excerpt: He came back to stare into the man’s eyes, Nathaniel speaking from his mouth about truths that he hadn’t known and hadn’t cared to known. Andrew was speaking German, Neil recognizing some of the words that came from his mouth. He’d always thought the language was a bit brutish, but Andrew made that different, somehow.“Who are you?” Was one of the phrases that Neil could fully understand, and so he struggled to bring himself forward, eventually making it.“I’m Neil.”________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Summary: Part 2 of Neil living with DID, Andrew and Neil's growing friendship
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: The Runaway System [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2156202
Comments: 5
Kudos: 86





	Wind has Failed

**Author's Note:**

> As somebody who is not in a system of their own, though has a friend who is, if there is anything that I wrote that is offensive or not correct or needs to be changed, please let me know of it! As always, leave your thoughts about this in a comment if you'd like!

Getting to know Andrew Minyard was like flying a kite. 

It wasn’t easy, especially if there wasn’t wind, and all too often it seemed to crash into the ground like the gravity suddenly increased tenfold in that specific spot. Maybe that was the case, maybe the universe chose that moment to stop making sense, as if it ever really had made sense in the first place. 

Neil thought that Andrew didn’t make sense. Then again, neither did he, with the scars and marks along his body that he could never remember about, even when the voice -Nathaniel, it supplied to him- made those remarks about him needing to stop looking at them, how they would never really make sense to the boy. 

Neil wasn’t allowed to be alone when Andrew was near. It was different during the times he played exy, when Alice would take over for Nathaniel and give him tips on where to go, letting him play as much as he wanted. 

Nathaniel was there when he was invited to Columbia. Neil wasn’t sure if that were a restaurant, but Nathaniel told him that it was a city and that they’d possibly be going somewhere in that city, so Neil didn’t really mind. He was anxious about being near the shorter man, getting an anxious tic whenever he saw the man’s knife for reasons not even Alice would tell him. 

The last thing he remembered was getting into Andrew’s car for their trip to Columbia.

He came back to stare into the man’s eyes, Nathaniel speaking from his mouth about truths that he hadn’t known and hadn’t cared to known. Andrew was speaking German, Neil recognizing some of the words that came from his mouth. He’d always thought the language was a bit brutish, but Andrew made that different, somehow. 

“Who are you?” Was one of the phrases that Neil could fully understand, and so he struggled to bring himself forward, eventually making it. 

“I’m Neil.” 

Sufficient to say, Nathaniel pushed him away to where he could only observe what was happening once more, seeing Andrew’s new… trust for him. It wasn’t really trust, although Neil wanted to trust him, but Nathaniel told him that they’d be okay now and Neil believed him. 

Once Nathaniel had given him that clear, Neil wasn’t pushed back whenever Andrew was around, instead finding himself able to really get to know him. Nathaniel was present for some of the time, and there were days where he couldn’t remember being there, but for most of the practices and all of the games, he was able to enjoy himself. 

But there came that day when he followed Andrew up to the roof, exchanging truths- it was more of Nathaniel telling the truth than Neil, since Nathaniel knew more about the body and their experiences with Neil being in the house more than not. 

Nathaniel wasn’t there, today, though. Neil reached out, trying to find him, and found that he couldn’t. It wouldn’t usually be such a big issue, but he couldn’t properly talk to Andrew without him realizing that something was wrong. Nathaniel had always told Neil to keep them a secret, lest they get in trouble, but… Nathaniel told him that Andrew was okay.

So Neil sat next to Andrew, and when Andrew gave him a questioning look, he introduced himself. 

“I’m Neil. You usually see me at practice or game days, and I was there when you recruited me, for a bit. I think you know Nath-” His mouth abruptly was closed by somebody that wasn’t himself, and he recognized another presence with him, whispering to not share names. He hesitantly agreed, not realizing that he had been spacing out until Andrew snapped his fingers in front of him and got his attention. 

“You know another, not um… not me.” Neil could see that Andrew was confused, as he was, and he couldn’t help but think that it’d be so much easier if Nathaniel was telling him instead. 

“I’m not alone, in my body. I’m not really sure what it is, but I have some memory gaps, languages that I can’t understand but the others are fluent in. Things I don’t remember happening.” 

Being friends with Andrew became easier after that. 

Of course, Andrew would never admit that they were friends, but Alice told him one day when he was in the kitchen that Andrew was doing nice things for them, and that Nathaniel had made a promise to make the others introduce themselves to Andrew every time they came to the front. Neil didn’t think that would be difficult to remember, and so he did. 

Every time after that, whenever it was him in the front, he’d find Andrew and give him a loose grin and a thumbs up; Andrew knew it was him. 

The others on the team didn’t know- Andrew and Nathaniel had talked about it one night while Neil was present, only in the back, getting to listen to whatever they talked about. Nathaniel must’ve told Andrew that he was there when he was getting settled, because they kept their conversation too nice to be normal. 

Neil didn’t think that Andrew really minded them being there. The others, he meant. Neil had grown to think of the others as a family of sorts- even if he hadn’t met all of them yet, Alice mentioned others in passing. She rarely came to the front- fronted, she had told him once- but when she did, Andrew wasn’t too mean to her. Neil hoped, anyway.

Andrew seemed to take them in stride, like it was just something that happened every day, and Neil felt grateful for that. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as he had first thought, having the others. 

It was pretty weird when he fronted to have Andrew kissing him, though. He’d have to talk to Nathaniel about that.


End file.
